Into the Flames
by TeaLovingAmerican
Summary: When Kai woke up on a hospital bed surrounded by talking pokemon, he was sure he had lost his mind. Now that he knows he was somehow turned into an Eevee, he knows he lost his mind. Now he is being forced into joining a 'rescue team', whatever that is, by two idiotic fire pokemon that just won't leave him alone. What did he ever do to deserve this? - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon-based
1. Born Anew

**Author's Note**: I am making this because I want to and for no other reason. I've been playing too much Pokemon Crystal as of late and this idea became brewing in my mind. I made the main character an Eevee because I don't think it's fair that a boy can't be an Eevee in the games when it's more likely an Eevee _will _be a boy. Pokemon logic confuses me. But whatever. I obviously don't own Pokemon.

* * *

Into The Flames  
Chapter One: Born Anew

* * *

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

-Anatole France

* * *

His body involuntarily shivered under the fierce wind attacking his frail form. A groan escaped his throat which burned with all the fires of the sun. There was no escaping the irrevocable pain his body was experiencing. He could feel the grass under his stomach, moist from the humid air, rub against him irritatingly as he strained his body to get up. His mouth formed a grimace as he blearily opened his eyes. His blurry vision cleared with every pain inducing blink he forced.

He was in front of a body of water. A river, he surmised, as he watched the liquid viciously come alive as it fought its way downstream. Above him the sky was painted a dull grey with heavy clouds promising rain. As he looked back at the ground, he noticed even the grass had a dull vibe to it.

The wind whipped against his body once more, reminding him of his need for shelter from the oncoming weather. He willed his body to cooperate with him as he tried to stand up, only resulting in his body tumbling to the ground. His eyes opened and he weakly glared at his weak limbs in his vision. It took him a few seconds of glaring down at his limbs before he realized the limbs he was staring at were covered in thick wet light brown fur. Fur?

He blinked feebly at the offending appendages. His vision must be worse than he thought if he was seeing fur on his body. As his vision cleared, however, he became aware of the fact that instead of hands adorned with fingers, his arms were connected to what appeared to be paws. Fur and paws. Something was wrong.

He faintly noticed a new addition of a drenched tail to his lower half as he attempted once more to stand. He managed to stay up for a few seconds before his limbs once more gave out on him. As his body hit the wet ground, his vision blackened as he drifted painfully back into unconsciousness.

* * *

When he regained consciousness for the second time, he could faintly hear mumblings of voices around him. He suppressed a groan as feeling came back to him. The pain was near unbearable but he was fearful of alerting the voices to his unrest. Carefully keeping his eyes closed, he woke up more and the voices became clearer. He could almost make out the entire conversation surrounding him.

"So he will be all right Fey?"

That was an obviously female voice, but not too high or squeaky. Just a young, calm sort of voice with added urgency due to her question.

"Yes, child. The Eevee shall be fine. In fact, his heartbeat is picking up. He may be almost awake."

This voice was female as well, but it was older. The voice, who he assumed to be the one called Fey, had a very soothing tone and was calming the younger female down.

"He's awake? Sweet! Hey, wake up little buddy! Rise and shine."

This voice was low and definitely male. It was a loud and booming, jolly sort of voice that was made louder by the fact that the voice seemed to be coming from right beside his sensitive ears. A warm, constant nudging against his side began to irritate him.

"Ryder, quit it! Fey said he may be almost awake. That doesn't mean forcibly wake him!"

That was the first voice again, presumably speaking to the male.

"Yes Ryder, I would appreciate if you would refrain from waking the patient," the voice identified as Fey quipped, followed by a huff by the younger female.

"There is another thing I would like to discuss about the patient, Rei."

That was Fey again, but her tone had reached a concerned lilt. There were some shuffling sounds as the owners' of the voices moved around the room.

"What is it Fey?"

So the first voice must be named Rei.

"You said you found the boy in the rain?" Fey asked, the concerned tone in her voice still present.

"Yeah. Ryder and I were stuck walking through the rain to get back to the Team Base and we saw him knocked out beside the river. Why?" Rei's voice did anything but hide her curiosity.

"It's just that… This child's fur is singed."

He had a feeling the patient they were speaking of was him, so he nearly blew his cover as he let out a tiny gasp. Singed fur? What were they speaking of? And why did the voices once refer to him as an Eevee? He seemed to vaguely recall passing out near the river… But everything was fuzzy.

"Singed? What do you mean, 'singed'?"

Ryder, the owner of the male voice, seemed to at least be on the same wavelength as him for some of his questions.

"I mean singed. The boy must have been near some sort of fire recently. Have you heard of any forest fires lately?"

"No Fey. There haven't been any fires reported for a while now. Do you suppose he got into a fight?" Rei's voice once more was ridden with curiosity.

"I'm not sure, child. But you could ask him," Fey's voice became sterner as the sentence went on and there was a slight shuffling coming near his body.

"Open up your eyes boy, I've kept your cover secret for long enough. It's time to face the light."

He winced at the stern voice coming near his left side, but decided there was no way he could pretend to be asleep any longer with the stranger blowing his cover so openly.

As his body rose up, his small bones made loud cracking sounds, alerting all of their current under use. He opened his eyes, only to immediately close them from pain. Apparently the voice wasn't joking when she said to face the light. His eyes opened again, this time much more slowly to avoid blinding himself.

His eyes scanned his horizons wearily. He was on top of a hospital bed with light pink sheets which brought a light grimace to his face. He looked around at the room once more, searching for the owners' of the voices he had heard before. What he saw before him made his grimace turn into a downright sneer.

An Audino was right near his bedside with a slight frown upon its face. A little behind it was a Vulpix wearing a blue bandanna around its neck. On the right side of his bed was a Growlithe with a red bandanna around its neck seemingly to match with the Vulpix's.

He looked at the three pokémon, who were larger than they were supposed to be, and opened his mouth to speak, only to promptly close it because of no words coming to mind.

He was going crazy.

He was going absolutely crazy.

Despite his obvious plight with sanity, the Vulpix walked closer to his bed.

"Are you all right?"

That was the first voice, the voice he had learned from his eavesdropping was known as Rei. And it was coming from the mouth of the Vulpix.

"Okay. Okay I get it. I'm being set up. Where's the cameras? Where's the actors?" he asked, his voice high with his fear as he involuntarily stepped back, only to trip over something connected to him. As he looked down he saw it was… his tail.

Tail. Fur. Paws. Talking Pokémon.

The scene from the riverside jumped back into his mind at full clarity. His large eyes widened. This wasn't right. This wasn't happening.

Pokémon don't talk. And _he _most certainly does not have fur or a tail. He was a person. A human. A pokémon trainer.

This was _not _happening to him.

All three of the pokémon around him were casting worried glances in his direction. The Growlithe in particular looked rather bewildered. It padded closer to his bedside.

"Calm down little buddy, we're all friends here. I'm Ryder. What's your name?" the Growlithe nearly whispered to him, apparently trying to keep his loud voice low to avoid scaring him further.

"You can talk," he spat glaring at the offending pokémon.

The Growlithe tilted his furry head to the side before casting a quick look at the two pokémon on the other side of the bed.

"Yeah I suppose I do. And so do you I see," was the Growlithe's cautious answer.

"But. But you're a pokémon! I'm a human. I have a right to speak!" he nearly shouted at the large canine.

"A human? What are you talking about? You're an Eevee if I've ever seen one!"

That came from the Vulpix on his other side. She was staring at him just as bemusedly as the Growlithe.

"Let's start over. I'm Rei, that's Ryder, and the nurse is Fey. Now what's your name?" the Vulpix chirped at him kindly.

He stared at the vixen pokémon in confusion before deciding to humor her in all of this madness.

"Kai," he croaked out.

That seemed to appease the two fire pokémon as they both let out a large smile adorn their muzzles. The Audino, on the other hand, frowned down at Kai with a calculating look in her eyes.

"You think you are a human?" the Audino finally asked.

Kai felt anger at the question and he glared up at the taller pokémon.

"I don't _think_ I'm a human. I _know_ I'm a human," he growled out in rage.

The Audino merely hummed in thought as she looked over him for any sign of concussion. The light pink pokémon began pacing in front of his hospital bed, casting glances at him every few steps her light paws took.

"I've never seen a case like this in my entire career here as the nurse of the Team Base. I have never come across anyone who deludes themself into believing they are a human," Fey murmured absentmindedly to the two fire pokémon.

"Deludes? I'm serious! I am not an Eevee! I am a human," Kai shrieked exasperatingly.

All three of the strange pokémon glanced at each other before the Vulpix put her paws on his bed.

"Are you serious? Are you really… A human?" Rei whispered.

"Yes," he answered simply, tired of fighting with these pokémon. They were most likely figments of his imagination anyways.

The Vulpix stared at him, her green eyes piercing into his own blue. She lightly nodded before setting her paws back on the ground and looking towards the Audino.

"I believe him," she said simply.

The Growlithe padded over to sit beside the Vulpix and nodded with a quick, "Me too."

The Audino seemed exasperated with the two young pokémon, before casting one quick glance back over his way.

"Fine," Fey sighed, "But you have to watch over him."

Both fire pokémon grinned, seemingly ignorant of his cries of indignation of the nurse pokémon's claim.

* * *

As of now, Kai was padding down the hallway outside of the room he was previously in. From what he had gathered from the constant blabber coming from the two pokémon that resided on both sides of him in a near suffocating closeness, the hallway they were walking through was the Medical Wing. The Medical Wing of _what_ was what he was trying to gather.

The walls of the hallway were a light baby blue with a small design at the bottom where it connected with the marble flooring. It seemed to have a calming effect on those who inhabited it.

Apparently the genius who had decided on the color coding wasn't expecting a nearly insane human boy trapped inside of an Eevee body to be one day wading through these halls.

Why an Eevee anyways? Out of all pokémon, couldn't he at least have been something a little bit manlier. He supposed he should be happy he wasn't stuck in a Skitty body, but still, Eevee were still pretty up on the list of girly pokémon.

He continued grumbling to himself, completely ignoring the blathering fools that he was sure were the world's punishment for him. What had he ever done to have been stuck with two idiotic happy go lucky pokémon who didn't know when to shut up?

What had he ever done anyways? He couldn't remember most of anything at all. He remembered how he looked. He had had shaggy black hair and a lanky form. Dark blue eyes that his mother always loved. Mother. He paused. He couldn't remember anything else about his own mother except that she loved his eyes. Kai mentally cringed at the thought. Why couldn't he remember her? Why couldn't he remember anyone? Or anything?

"Hey little buddy, you okay? You seem out of it," Ryder asked jokingly to down at him.

Kai bristled at the question and let a cold glare out in the Growlithe's direction. Ryder just seemed to find this amusing and let out a chuckle which only made Kai angrier.

"Hey," Rei said, nudging his other side, "We're finally leaving the Medical Wing. This is the Main Lobby."

Kai weakly glared at the female Vulpix before looking around the new room they had arrived in. He was momentarily knocked out of his melancholy mood by the absolute beauty of the room. There were six large bulletin boards lining the pale green walls that seemed to be the main attraction. Pokémon of all kinds were sitting around the bulletin boards and taking off papers and chattering with others around them about whatever adorned them. There were a few vacant couches for anyone who needed to take a break and plants seemed to grow out of the marble floor. The whole feeling of the room was alive. Aside from the bulletin boards, a few windows adorned the walls, along with many hallways that appeared to be similar to the one from which they had just exited. Kai was taken out of his stupor by a Mudkip leaping over towards where the group of three was standing.

The Mudkip's blue scales shimmered as it beamed at him, while a Poochyena and a Pidgey hurriedly appeared behind him.

"Rei, Ryder, who's the newbie?" the Mudkip chirped excitedly.

"Little buddy here is named Kai. He thinks he's-"

"Better than all of us, unfortunately. So ignore any rudeness or arrogance that comes from him please," Rei cut Ryder off and smiled at the Mudkip.

The Mudkip blinked at the interruption and looked between the members of the group before smiling down at him again.

"My name is Ringo," the Mudkip nearly sang before pointing to the Poochyena, "And that's Lewis," he continued and then pointed at the Pidgey, "And that's Cale."

Lewis and Cale nodded down at him before nudging their supposed leader.

"Huh, oh! Sorry guys, got to go. I'm sure I'll see you at dinner anyways," Ringo shouted while racing away with his two lackeys following after him.

"Peppy dude," Kai muttered to his companions which earned a round of laughter from the two that made his head want to split in two.

"He was right anyways. We are going to see him at dinner and dinner's going to begin any minute. Best not to be late," Rei said kindly to Ryder and him.

Ryder nodded and bounded off towards one of the hallways, his stomach seeming to take over his old thought to crowd the younger male. Kai frowned and looked to Vulpix.

"Come on," she said and began leading him down the hallway the Growlithe had entered a few seconds ago. This one was a pale orange-ish pink color that made Kai rather sick but he kept his thoughts to himself as he readied himself for having his ears chattered off by the two pokémon sent by Ho-oh to torture him.


	2. Dinnertime Affairs

**Author's Note**: Wow another chapter so quick. I'm proud of myself. Anyways, here's chapter two. I'm tired. Enjoy.

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Into The Flames

Chapter Two: Dinnertime Affairs

* * *

People think of you differently if you've been in their homes. They think they own you because they watched you while they were eating dinner, or they can turn you up or down, or even freeze you.

-Maggie Smith

* * *

To say Kai was uncomfortable, one would be saying an understatement. The boy was surrounded by about twenty strangers, all of whom were chattering amongst each other making a buzzing sound irritate the boy's newly heightened sense of hearing, who he was very aware were pokémon. He was being punished for something terrible he assumed. Why else would he be forced into this primitive Hell?

Currently, he was squished between the very large Growlithe named Ryder who seemed to want to invade his personal space anytime he could and the annoyingly calm and optimistic Vulpix named Rei who wouldn't let him out of her sight. They were all sitting at a large long table which he assumed was meant to be the dining table. He also assumed this wasn't meant to be a _fine _dining meal, seeing as the Teddiursa across from him was covered in mud. Kai felt utter disgust at the filth covering the youngster but he could not bring himself to even ask what could possibly make the boy come to dinner that improperly.

In front of each of the pokémon was an empty plate that none seemed aware of, excluding the Growlithe to his right who would cast pitiful glances at his empty plate between blabbering into his ears about some obscure unimportant topic that he would never remember. Kai was oddly glad everyone was so immersed in their conversations between each other that they didn't notice or acknowledge him. The only pokémon that even looked his way other than the two fire types who were smothering him was the Mudkip that had introduced himself before. What was his name again? Ping Pong? Dingo? It was something like that at least.

The room they were in was colored a pale maroon with intricate designs of black on the wall where it connected to the floor and ceiling. Along the wall were pictures in photo frames and newspaper clippings. The newspaper clippings varied of age; some were new and crisp and depicted some of the pokémon in the room while some were yellowing with stains and seemed to be from years upon years ago. The closest one to Kai seemed rather new and the headlines read 'RTB Saves Another Civilian From Capture.' Kai's ears flattened against his newly furry head in confusion.

"What's wrong little buddy? You smell confused," the oaf Ryder asked, stooping his head lower to be closer to Kai's face.

Kai blanched and inched away from the Growlithe with a sneer and a slight hiss.

"You can _smell _confusion?" he spat disbelievingly at the larger and more dimwitted canine.

"Well," Ryder began, blinking owlishly down at the smaller male, "Yeah, I can. All Growlithe can smell emotions. Perks of being me, I guess."

The large canine had a toothy grin turned toward Kai who wasn't amused in the slightest. He let out a sigh and moved away from the larger male while sending a warning glare that was ignored.

"What are you thinking about?" Ryder tried again, making Kai want to bash his head against the table to get rid of the agony that is speaking to the elder male.

"That I'm in Hell," he muttered letting his snout rest against the empty plate Rei had placed in front of him.

The Growlithe to his right once again just stared at him, which made Kai let out another sigh with a quiet 'whatever.'

Kai straightened up a bit and looked at the other male. He might as well get some answers out of him.

"What's RTB?" he finally asked.

This had caused the Vulpix to his left to abruptly end her conversation with a Linoone she was seated beside and for the Growlithe to let out a long, loud, booming laugh. Kai's eyes widened and looked around the full room, afraid he had attracted everyone's eyes by the oaf's laughter. Fortunately, everyone had continued on with their conversation, seemingly used to the canine's volume. This didn't mean Kai was completely satiated. No, he was still severely embarrassed and wanted nothing more than to snap the idiot's mouth shut.

"What? What did I say?" he hissed at the older male, glaring daggers all the while.

Ryder quieted down before sending a lazy smirk his way.

"You haven't listened to a thing me or Rei's told you, have you?" the Growlithe laughed out.

Kai's dark blue eyes widened further and he started feeling hot under his newly gained fur.

"Not… Not really," he admitted quickly looking down at the table, cursing whatever deity had done this to him.

"Smooth move Kai," Rei chuckled from the left of him which earned her a weak glare.

"RTB stands for Rescue Team Base. Which you are inside of right now," she added for his benefit.

Kai's ears once again went down in his confusion.

"Then what's a capture?" he asked, looking up at the taller female.

Rei's eyes widened before looking over him at Ryder. Ryder seemed just as worried and kept shooting glances his way. Rei didn't look into his eyes as she muttered, "We should leave that as a topic for later."

Kai's eyes narrowed as he tried to wrap his mind around the situation. From what he could tell, these two fools were keeping something from him. Sure, he had done everything he could to ignore what they had to say before this, but that didn't give them the right to lie to him. He was going to get to the bottom of this, one way or another.

Kai's thoughts were knocked from his mind as the door to the room swung open, revealing a very tired, yet haughty looking Manectric. He paused at the doorway and began scanning the table. The stranger's eyes went up and down the rows before they stopped somewhere near Kai. He immediately felt himself freeze under the Manectric's red gaze. The stranger padded briskly over to the filthy Teddiursa in front of Kai.

"Blue, I expect at least three reports from you tomorrow for this disgusting display you have put on. Always remember you do not just represent you or your team, you represent the whole of Sector C," the stranger said with a calm and stern voice before he began assessing the rest of the table.

Kai felt a little bit of courage as he leaned towards the slightly taller Vulpix to his left.

"Who is he?" he whispered, both in awe and fear of the Manectric, although he would never admit the latter feeling.

Rei's eyes widened and she hastily opened her mouth only for Kai to notice the Manectric's ears point upwards in alertness. All too suddenly, Kai had red eyes piercing into his blue.

"Well, well, well… It appears we have a new member of our family," the Manectric smirked down at him in a way, in Kai's mind, that was very much like a predator finding its prey.

"Rei, Ryder, why don't you introduce me to our new friend," he added, not even lifting his gaze from Kai's.

Rei sat up straighter from her seat on the bench and answered the stranger.

"Sir, this is Kai. We found him passed out in the rain and took him to the Medical Wing for Fey to take a look at him. After he regained consciousness we asked him to join our team and he agreed."

Kai's eyes widened in disbelief at the last part of the Vulpix's claim. He agreed to _nothing. _For all he was concerned, he was being held hostage here. He began to retort before he was suddenly reminded of the intimidating Manectric before him. No need to upset a guy that could electrocute him.

The Manectric looked his small form up and down before letting out another predatory smile.

"I suppose I'll just have to go and get another Sector C team badge for you, won't I? I apologize for the rest of the crew's rudeness, but I am pleased to meet you. My name is Aiden and I am the leader of Sector C of the Rescue Team Base. Oh, and feel free to call me by name," the Manectric added the last part as if in a sincere afterthought, although Kai really doubted it was anything other than an empty gesture.

All eyes in the room were focused on him. It was as if they were waiting. Waiting to see if he would take the bait.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, sir," Kai replied, proud that his voice only wavered a bit.

He wasn't going to lose that easily.

Aiden's smile returned tenth fold as he nodded to him, seemingly pleased. He turned around and finished his assessment of the rest of the table's inhabitants, leaving quick comments every now and again.

When the Manectric finally seated himself at the head of the table, everyone seemed to relax. Kai looked around again wondering why having the male sit with them calmed them down.

"Team leaders, please give me your reports," Aiden ordered calmly.

Seven pokémon stood up with papers in their hands. Kai was surprised to see Rei was one of them. First, a Marowak placed her pile of papers in front of the Manectric, followed by a Gengar, then a Charmander, then the Mudkip from before, then Rei, then the muddy Teddiursa, and finally a Machop. They all stood by the Manectric's side before he made one final nod, signaling everyone to sit down. As Rei sat down beside him once more, Kai sent her a look that she ignored.

"You have done well today teams. Let's hope for a fortunate tomorrow," Aiden smiled a true smile before hitting a button near his seat.

All of a sudden, a ringing sound began. Kai's ears flattened against his head as the bells continued ringing only for it to abruptly stop as the doors opened up once more. Stepping in this time was a group of Aipom wearing small bowties carrying platters of fruits and vegetables. They promptly dropped the platters in front of the empty plates the littered the table. The gathered pokémon waited with bated breath for the last waiter to leave the room. As soon as the door reclosed, Aiden let out the command, "Eat."

None of the pokémon seemed to have a problem following this order as plenty of paws outstretched for the delicious looking food laid out on the platters. Kai was the only one in the room not helping himself to the food. As he looked around the table once more he saw Aiden's eyes on him, the Manectric's plate already half filled. Kai stared at the electric pokémon before the other seemed to sigh and gesture to the platters. Kai took it as his cue and hesitantly grabbed an Oran berry with his new paws.

He hesitantly took a small nibble on the blue berry and was pleasantly surprised by the burst of taste that immediately assaulted him. He had a feeling that an Oran berry had never tasted better as a human.

The dinner was relatively quiet from him for a while. Ryder was too busy eating to talk to him and Rei was still avoiding his gaze. The others members of the table talked between themselves and he felt like the outsider he was.

It wasn't until over half the food that was set out was eaten that a member of the table finally decided to speak to him. It was the Teddiursa across from him that was covered in now dried, crusty mud that tainted the young cub's fur. Kai was less than pleased that he had to be cornered by _that _pokémon out of all the primitive creatures at the table and couldn't help the grimace that crossed his face.

"So, you're new, right? My name's Blue. It's always good to have newbies like myself here. Me and Alex," the Teddiursa said while gesturing to the eating Smeargle beside him, "Joined two months ago. We still haven't decided on a team name though."

Kai looked at the quiet fire types beside him, other than Ryder's loud eating moans and chews, before looking at the young pokémon in front of him. If his new 'teammates' weren't going to tell him anything, he'll take the information from a dirty stranger.

Kai did his best to smile at the Teddiursa cub, but he knew he wasn't changing his grimace very much.

"What does a team do anyways?" he decided to ask, since that seemed like it would be the easiest to get out of him.

The young Teddiursa's eyes widened at the question.

"You don't know what Rescue Teams do?" Blue asked timidly, scared to offend him.

Kai felt slight anger flare before he spat out, "No."

Blue looked down at his plate before his big brown eyes looked back up at Kai.

"Rescue Teams save pokémon. We help arrest bad pokémon, deliver direly needed items to pokémon in need, save pokémon from being attacked in caves, escort pokémon through dangerous territories, and a lot of other stuff. But our main job is to save pokémon from captures," Blue said looking shyly at Kai.

Kai's eyes narrowed and his ears flattened once more at hearing the word captures. Just what did it mean and why was it so important. Kai felt anger at the two fire pokémon sitting beside him so he wasn't surprised when he practically shouted, "Just what are captures?"

Heads turned in his direction. Kai wasn't bothered until he felt a pair of piercing red eyes upon him. He felt his anger build up with the seconds of his confusion continuing. Thankfully the Linoone that sat on Rei's left decided to come to his rescue.

"Captures are a pokémon's worst nightmare."

Kai's head swiveled towards the Linoone to show he had his full attention.

"Our village has long resided within this forest. At first, we were safe. We built a small town and all was going smoothly. This was a long, long, long time ago. Because then, the humans came," the Linoone said gravely and the table got eerily quiet.

"The humans, at first, just passed through our forest and were of no harm to us. But after a while, the humans began bringing ball shaped devices that's purpose was to encase a pokémon inside," the Linoone winced, seemingly experiencing a bad memory while others gave him sorrowful glances.

Kai's eyes widened at the Linoone's story. They were speaking of pokéballs. He had a vague memory of attaching a newly gained pokéball to his belt as a human and how proud he had been. He slightly grimaced at this odd vision when he was surrounded by those who would be terrified of him.

"Then the captures began. The humans were no longer skittish in the woods. They ventured so close to our town that we almost had our cover blown countless times. We were nearly discovered so many times," the Linoone paused again and winced before wearily carrying on, "We were so lucky to have survived on our own for so long. But then he came along."

All of the pokémon in the room had smiles on their faces at this point. Even Rei had a small grin pulled across her face. Aiden chose this time to step in.

"The 'he' Pierre was speaking of, is our very own Rescue Team Base owner and leader. His name is Percy and because he is an Absol, he has been able to protect our town long before many of our grandparents were born. He built the Rescue Team Base with the help of his Rescue Team, the very first team. It was him and six other pokémon. Later on, they became the first leaders of the Sectors. Sector Z's first leader, an Alakazam by the name of Rune, and Percy came up with the town's main protection. They set up a system of psychic pokémon guards that set up an illusion to protect humans from seeing the town. Sectors A through E dealt with the actual pokémon affected, while Sector Z dealt with damage control. This system has survived since the establishment days of the Rescue Team Base. We should all be honored to serve our town and all pokémon and to keep them safe from humans," Aiden ended his speech with a final piercing gaze in Kai's direction.

Everyone was a little shocked by their leader's impromptu speech so they could only nod when he left with a final claim that he had work to do.

Kai watched the Manectric's back as he walked out of the dining room. What was that all about?

The Linoone spoke up first out of everyone.

"Your name is Kai, right? My name is Pierre. I'm in Team Freedom. We're the oldest team in Sector C. You can come to us about any questions you have," Pierre smiled down at the smaller male.

Kai frowned before taking him up on that offer.

"What brought _that _on?"

Pierre looked at him before answering softly, "I suppose you're speaking of Aiden's outburst. Our leader idolizes Percy. No one can blame him either though. Everyone idolizes Percy. But Aiden was saved from a capture by him when he was only an Electrike. There's no wonder he idolizes the man."

Kai's eyes widened at the new information. Not only were these people terrified and loathed people like him, they also hero worshipped anyone who saved people from them. And now he was supposed to be one of them. Kai suddenly felt sick to the stomach. He never asked for this. He never asked to be turned into a furry freak or to have to fight against trainers who he would have battled if he was only still human. Kai looked at the members in the room. Would he have tried to catch these guys if he were still human? Would he ever understand how much these pokémon hated the idea of ever joining a human on their journey?

"He was almost captured?" he finally asked.

This time the Marowak beside Pierre spoke up.

"He's not the only one. My own nephew was captured a month ago. I was supposed to be looking after him. He was only a Cubone. An orphan. That didn't stop that human female from capturing him and locking him away in one of those small balls of theirs. I hate humans with every fiber of my body. I will never again let them take away someone I love."

Everyone looked in sorrow at the female Marowak as she grabbed tightly onto her bone. The sadness radiating from the room was overwhelming. Kai was beginning to feel it was his fault.

Ryder, the big oaf, finally decided to speak up with, "But we're going to save everyone. No matter if we love them or not. We're Sector C and we're family. We'll save Falintown and we'll do it together."

Everyone smiled at the annoying fool as if what he said was endearing and kindhearted. Kai just rolled his eyes but was slightly grateful he didn't have to be in that tense atmosphere too much longer.

* * *

Soon the pokémon at the table began dispersing and finally Rei and Ryder decided it was time to leave, dragging the always resistant Kai with them.

They left the pale maroon dining room and entered the pink-orange hallway that made Kai sick. Unfortunately, apparently that hallway was the one connected to all Sector C rooms so he was going to spend a lot of time walking down this ugly hallway.

Rei and Ryder were back to trying to tell him about daily life at the Team Base which Kai completely ignored, instead focusing on not stumbling while he was walking. He still wasn't completely used to walking on four legs. And the tail wasn't helping at all. Whoever said tails were meant to help with balance was lying.

Kai had half listened to the oafs' conversation enough to hear that they were nearing the room they shared. His ears slightly picked up at the thought of actually lying down and sleeping after this long day. Even if he had been passed out for over half the day, he was extremely tired. He blames unnecessary stress from that dinner. He really should have eaten more than two Oran berries though.

"Kai, may I have a word?"

All three young pokémon stopped in their tracks and Kai felt red eyes piercing into his backside. As he turned around, sure enough, the Sector C leader, Aiden, was staring at him with an expecting look in his eyes.

Rei stepped in front of the small male, ready to cover for any mistake the newbie had made. Kai felt a little indignant at having a girl defend him but then he squashed that thought because she was bigger than him and knew how to breathe fire. She could defend him all she wants.

"Step down Rei, I only wish to give him his badge," Aiden chided while looking at Kai.

Rei hesitated before stepping back and letting Kai go and follow the older male. Kai paused before looking at the fire types one last time and following after the electric pokémon's lengthy strides. Kai had to run to catch up and nearly fell face first to floor in the process. Luckily the elder male didn't seem to notice or care.

The larger pokémon stopped in front of a room and sent a quick 'stay' to Kai before entering alone. Kai sat, exhausted beyond belief and was surprised to find himself wishing he was with the two fools if it meant he was away from these predatory eyes.

Soon enough, the electric pokémon returned to the hallway with a small bronze pin engraved with the letter C. Aiden dropped the pin in front of him and turned around to leave.

"Wait! You're just going to leave me here? Without even saying anything? I don't know my way back! And what's this pin for anyways?" Kai shouted at the older male.

The larger canine was really beginning to irritate him to no end. Not only did he intimidate him, he seemed to _enjoy _playing with his emotions. He was confused and he was going to get his answers.

Aiden sighed before turning around to the small Eevee.

"That pin is your badge. It shows your rank and your Sector. Bronze, meaning rookie, C, meaning Sector C. I expect you to show up at dinner every night unless you are off on an approved day long mission. You are not allowed to make too much noise as to disturb others in your room. And last but not least, always remember, Sector C is a family. You will treat everyone in your Sector with respect and kindness and nothing else. Now since you were too busy looking at your paws as your walked instead of look and remember where we were going, I will lead you back to your friends," Aiden said all of this in a calm way and began walking as soon as he finished, leaving Kai to stumble after him hurriedly.

This time, Kai made sure to look around at how many doors they passed and before he knew it, he had counted twelve and he was back where his friends were waiting for him. Aiden gave him one last chilling glance before turning around without another word and leaving.

Rei and Ryder gave him encouraging smiles and they began crowding his small form again. And so Kai was once again trapped between two loud fire type pokémon who he was forced to be with. He wasn't sure he liked this situation very much. After a few more doors, the group of three finally reached a door they stopped at.

"This is our room Kai. It's small but it's cozy," Rei offered with a tired smile.

Kai just grunted and plopped down on the ground near a corner. The room's walls weren't as painful as the hallway's. They were a light lime green. Still slightly sickly, but not nearly as bad Kai decided. The floor was wood this time, instead of the marble he had seen everywhere else. He was immensely glad no one expected him to sleep on a stone floor. After a while, Ryder walked over to him and gave him a light blue blanket. Kai curled up in the blankets and began to assess his new body.

The nurse had been right, he noticed, that his fur was burnt. It was only a tiny bit, but it was noticeable. The only spot it was really noticeable was on his right ear where a large burn mark was visible near the tip of his ear. Kai sighed and decided that most of it would go away with time.

Time. How long would he be stuck like this anyhow? When could he go home? What was home? Why couldn't he remember anything?

Kai growled before he noticed his new Sector C badge beside his paw. He looked at the two fire types who were speaking between each other and decided he might as well ask them.

"What do I do with my badge?" he called out to the two.

Both looked at him before smiling and coming closer.

"We wear ours on our bandanas. I bet we could find you something to wear it on. How about a collar, I think a collar would fit you nicely," Rei answered with an easy going smile that Kai feebly glared at.

Kai sighed, having a gut feeling that they were going to force him into a collar whether he wanted one or not. He looked back up at the two with one more question on his mind.

"They really hate me don't they?"

Both of the pokémon's eyes widened before they looked at him sadly.

"They don't hate you little buddy. We'll keep it a secret, I swear. Nobody will find out and nobody will hurt you. You're our friend now. We'll protect you. We stick together," Ryder vowed, with sadness obvious in his voice.

Kai had a feeling Ryder was the one who gave happy speeches to give the hopeless hope from the speech in the dining room. Now that Ryder gave him a mini speech, he knew he, himself was hopeless.

He wouldn't survive in this town, in this body.


End file.
